William Mulholland was the head of
Los Angeles Department of Water and PowerThe Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is the largest municipal utility in the United States, serving over four million residents. It was founded in 1902 to supply water and electricity to residents and businesses in Los Angeles and surrounding communities...
, in Los Angeles. He was responsible for building the water aqueducts and dams that allowed the city to grow into one of the largest in the world. His methods of obtaining water for the city led to disputes collectively known as the
California Water WarsThe California Water Wars were a series of conflicts between the city of Los Angeles, farmers and ranchers in the Owens Valley of Eastern California, and environmentalists. As Los Angeles grew in the late 1800s, it started to outgrow its water supply. Fred Eaton, mayor of Los Angeles, realized that...
. In 1928, his career ended in ignominy when the
St. Francis DamThe St. Francis Dam was a concrete gravity-arch dam, designed to create a reservoir as a storage point of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. It was located 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles, California, near the present city of Santa Clarita....
failed just hours after he had given it a personal safety inspection.
Early life
William Mulholland was born in
BelfastBelfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Ireland. His parents Hugh and Ellen Mulholland were
Dubliners and they returned to the city a few years after William's birth. His younger brother
HughMulholland Brothers is a manufacturer of luggage, briefcases and sporting goods. Located along the San Francisco Bay, Mulholland Brothers deals in leather and sturdy stitching.- History :...
Jr. had been born in 1856. At the time of Mulholland's birth, his father was working as a guard for the
Royal MailRoyal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...
. In 1862, when he was seven years old, his mother died. Three years later his father remarried. William was educated at
O'Connell SchoolThe O’Connell School is a secondary school for boys located on North Richmond Street in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. The school, named in honour of the leader of Catholic Emancipation, Daniel O’Connell, has the distinction of being the oldest surviving Christian Brothers school in Dublin, having...
by the
Christian BrothersThe Congregation of Christian Brothers is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Blessed Edmund Rice. The Christian Brothers, as they are commonly known, chiefly work for the evangelisation and education of youth, but are involved in many ministries, especially with...
in Dublin. After having been beaten by his father for receiving bad marks in school, Mulholland ran off to sea. At 15, he was a member of the British Merchant Navy. He spent the next four years as a seaman primarily sailing Atlantic routes. In 1872 he left the sea. He arrived in Los Angeles in 1877.
Initial career in Los Angeles
After arriving in Los Angeles, which at the time had a population of about 9,000, Mulholland quickly decided to return to life at sea as work was hard to find. On his way to the port at San Pedro to find a ship, however, he accepted a job digging a
wellA water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
. After a brief stint in Arizona where he prospected for gold and worked on the
Colorado RiverThe Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
, he obtained a job from Frederick Eaton as Deputy Zanjero with the newly formed Los Angeles Water Company (LAWC). In
Alta CaliforniaAlta California was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory was created in 1769 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, and consisted of the modern American states of California,...
during the Spanish and Mexican administrations water was delivered to
Pueblo de Los AngelesEl Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles was the Spanish civilian pueblo founded in 1781, which by the 20th century became the American metropolis of Los Angeles....
in a large open ditch, the
Zanja MadreThe Zanja Madre is the original aqueduct that brought water to the Pueblo de Los Angeles from the Porciuncula River. It is referred to as an open, earthen ditch which was completed by community laborers within a month of founding the pueblo...
. The man who tended the ditch was known as a zanjero.
In 1880 Mulholland oversaw the laying of the first iron water pipeline in Los Angeles. Mulholland left the employment of the LAWC briefly in 1884 but returned in mid-December of that same year. He left again in 1885 and worked for the Sespe Land and Water Company. As part of his compensation he was granted twenty acres on Sespe Creek. In 1886 he returned to the LAWC and, in October of that year, became a naturalized American citizen. At the end of that year he was made the superintendent of the LAWC. In 1898, the Los Angeles city government decided not to renew the contract with the LAWC. Four years later the Los Angeles Department of Water was established with Mulholland as its head.
Water Superintendent
Mulholland, who was best described as a self-taught engineer, was now laying the foundations that would transform Los Angeles into today's
metropolisA metropolis is a very large city or urban area which is a significant economic, political and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections and communications...
. Up until then, Los Angeles' growth had been limited as it lay within a
chaparralChaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico...
-covered desert.. As Mulholland's public works began to send thousands of gallons of water across the area, irrigation and expansion quickly followed.
The
Los Angeles AqueductThe Los Angeles Aqueduct system comprising the Los Angeles Aqueduct and the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct, is a water conveyance system operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power...
was 233 mi (375 km) long and completed in November 1913, taking water from the
Owens ValleyOwens Valley is the arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States, to the east of the Sierra Nevada and west of the White Mountains and Inyo Mountains on the west edge of the Great Basin section...
in the Eastern Sierra, in a project requiring over 5,000 workers and 164 tunnels. Water reached a reservoir in the
San Fernando ValleyThe San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
on November 5. At the opening ceremony, Mulholland said of this engineering feat, "There it is. Take it." The words are said to be "the five most famous words in the city's history". Mulholland's power grew, his offices were, at one time, on the top floor of
Sid GraumanSidney Patrick Grauman was an American showman who created one of Southern California's most recognizable and visited landmarks, Grauman's Chinese Theater. He was the son of David Grauman who died in 1921 in Los Angeles, California and Rosa Goldsmith...
's
Million Dollar TheaterThe Million Dollar Theater at 307 S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles is one of the first movie palaces built in the United States. It opened in February 1918...
. During this time, Mulholland was the favorite to become mayor of Los Angeles but when asked if he was considering running for office he replied "I'd rather give birth to a
porcupinePorcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills, that defend or camouflage them from predators. They are indigenous to the Americas, southern Asia, and Africa. Porcupines are the third largest of the rodents, behind the capybara and the beaver. Most porcupines are about long, with...
backward".
Mulholland also provided technical assistance on the
Panama CanalThe Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
.
California Water Wars
The Los Angeles City Water Company's aqueduct project was publicly debated before it acquired significant property in
Owens ValleyOwens Valley is the arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States, to the east of the Sierra Nevada and west of the White Mountains and Inyo Mountains on the west edge of the Great Basin section...
, because it needed voter approval for its bond financing. Once this was given, Mayor Frederick Eaton, who had been the superintending engineer of the Los Angeles City Water Company for nine years, stopped at nothing to acquire water rights. These were hard times, and some residents of the Owens Valley were eager to sell out and move south. By 1905, through aggressive purchases, the Los Angeles City Water Company had acquired enough acreage to begin building the city's aqueduct.
After it acquired the first 1000 ac (400 ha) in the Owens Valley, other farmers in the valley raised their prices for their land. Ironically, farmers who resisted the pressure from Los Angeles until 1930 received the highest price for their land. Most farmers sold their land from 1905 to 1925 and received less than Los Angeles was actually willing to pay. By 1928 the Los Angeles aqueduct had drained the 100 mi² (300 km²)
Owens LakeOwens Lake is a mostly dry lake in the Owens Valley on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada in Inyo County, California. It is located about south of Lone Pine, California...
dry. This situation, and the diversion of the
Owens RiverThe Owens River is a river in southeastern California in the United States, approximately long. It drains into and through the Owens Valley, an arid basin between the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada and the western faces of the Inyo and White Mountains. The river terminates at Owens Lake, but...
, precipitated the
California Water WarsThe California Water Wars were a series of conflicts between the city of Los Angeles, farmers and ranchers in the Owens Valley of Eastern California, and environmentalists. As Los Angeles grew in the late 1800s, it started to outgrow its water supply. Fred Eaton, mayor of Los Angeles, realized that...
. Owens Valley
farmerA farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
s resisted
violentlyViolence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
, even dynamiting the aqueduct at
Jawbone CanyonJawbone Canyon is a geographic feature in the Mojave Desert and a Bureau of Land Management area located in Kern County, California. Located 20 miles north of Mojave on CA 14, the area is a popular destination for hikers and off road vehicle enthusiasts....
. They also opened sluice gates to divert the flow of water. The farmers' most successful tactic was to raise their asking price for their land. Eventually, the city administration was forced to negotiate. Bullishly, Mulholland was quoted as saying he "half-regretted the demise of so many of the valley’s orchard trees, because now there were no longer enough trees to hang all the troublemakers who live there".
Reservoir disaster
Mulholland's career effectively ended on March 12, 1928, when the
St. Francis DamThe St. Francis Dam was a concrete gravity-arch dam, designed to create a reservoir as a storage point of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. It was located 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles, California, near the present city of Santa Clarita....
, which he had designed and supervised the building of, failed just hours after he personally inspected the site. The collapse of the central part of the dam sent 12.5 billion US gallons (47 million m
3) of water into the Santa Clarita Valley, north of Los Angeles. Within seconds of the dam wall failing, a 100 ft (30 m) high torrent proceeded down the
Santa Clara riverbedThe Santa Clara River is approximately long, located in southern California in the United States. It drains an area of the coastal mountains north of Los Angeles. The Santa Clara is one of the largest river systems along the coast of Southern California and one of only a few remaining river...
at 18 mph (29 km/h), swamping everything in its path until it reached the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
at
VenturaVentura is the county seat of Ventura County, California, United States, incorporated in 1866. The population was 106,433 at the 2010 census, up from 100,916 at the 2000 census. Ventura is accessible via U.S...
. By the next morning rescuers found the town of
Santa PaulaSanta Paula is a city within Ventura County, California, United States. The population was 29,321 at the 2010 census, up from 28,598 at the 2000 census...
lay buried under 20 ft (6 m) of mud and debris, and other parts of
Ventura CountyVentura County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. It is located on California's Pacific coast. It is often referred to as the Gold Coast, and has a reputation of being one of the safest populated places and one of the most affluent places in the country...
were covered up to 70 ft (21 m) in flood deposits. Recovery crews worked for days to dig out bodies and clear away the mud from around Santa Paula. The final death toll was estimated to be 450 killed, which included 42 school children.
Mulholland took full responsibility for the worst US civil engineering disaster of the 20th century and resigned in March 1929. During the subsequent investigation, he said, "the only people I envy in this thing are the dead". Though the inquest placed responsibility for the disaster on improper engineering, design, and governmental inspection, it also recommended that Mulholland could not be held responsible because he had no way of knowing that the dam's site contained unstable rock formations (which were ultimately determined to be the cause of failure).
Later life
Shortly before his death, Mulholland provided input on the
Hoover DamHoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President...
and
Colorado River AqueductThe Colorado River Aqueduct, or CRA, is a water conveyance in Southern California in the United States, operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California . The aqueduct impounds water from the Colorado River at Lake Havasu on the California-Arizona border west across the Mojave...
projects. He died in 1935 and is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in
Glendale, CaliforniaGlendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...
.
Legacy
- Mulholland Dam
The Mulholland Dam is a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power dam located in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California. The dam impounds the Hollywood Reservoir, holding of water and is deep.-History:...
, in the Hollywood HillsThe Hollywood Hills is an affluent and exclusive neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the southeastern Santa Monica Mountains. It is bound by Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west, Vermont Avenue to the east, Mulholland Drive to the north, and Sunset Boulevard to the south.-Hollywood Hills...
- Mulholland Drive
Mulholland Drive is a street and road in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. It is named after Los Angeles pioneer civil engineer William Mulholland...
and Mulholland HighwayMulholland Highway is a scenic road in Los Angeles County, Southern California that runs approximately 50 miles through the western Santa Monica Mountains from the near U.S...
within Los Angeles County
In fiction, media
- A fictionalized version of the story was used as the basis for the 1974 Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
film Chinatown starring Jack NicholsonJohn Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
, Faye DunawayFaye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...
and John HustonJohn Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
. The character of Hollis I. Mulwray appears to be drawn from Mulholland.
- In the 1990s, the artist Frank Black
Black Francis is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the influential alternative rock band Pixies, with whom he performs under the stage name Black Francis. Following the band's breakup in 1993, he embarked on a solo career under the name Frank Black...
recorded two songs, "Ole Mulholland" (from Teenager of the YearReleased in 1994, Teenager of the Year was Frank Black’s second solo album, produced by Eric Drew Feldman. Long considered a testament to Frank Black's songwriting skills as well as his virtue as a performer, Teenager also features work by several backing musicians, including Pixies...
) and "St. Francis Dam Disaster" (from Dog in the SandDog in the Sand, Frank Black's third album with backing group the Catholics was released by the Cooking Vinyl record label in 2001, and was produced by Nick Vincent. The album was generally met with favorable reviews...
) about the life and works of William Mulholland.
External links